The establishment of a Eurasian Union is a great opportunity for a “restart” of Russian relations with the former Soviet republics, Alexey Vlasov, Director General of the Information and Analytics Center for Socio-Political Processes in Post-Soviet Space and Deputy Dean of the History Faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University, says.
The Eurasian Economic Union is probably the Russia's last opportunity for a replay in the big game of the region, Vlasov told a video conference entitled “Eurasian Union: directions of integration”, RIA Novosti reports.
Vlasov underlined that this is not an attempt to rebuild the USSR again, Russia lacks the necessary resources and there is no political need for that. But the union would improve the resource base and competitive abilities.
Integration initiatives within the Eurasian Union are being implemented by the Russian authorities at a great pace, Vlasov says. European experts are sceptical about prospects for integration in the post-Soviet regions. Brussels has no fears about integration, there have been talks on a Russian-Belarusian union but nothing has happened for ten years. The idea is not a breakthrough, Frazer Cameron, Director of the EU-Russia Center and Senior Advisor at the Center for European Policy, believes.
The expert believes that the formation of the union between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus is a step backwards. Russian youth is leaving for London. There are thousands of young Russians in Paris. This is bad for Russia. People need to be encouraged to stay and modernize the economy to make Russia an advanced state, he notes.
A union with the two dictatorships of Belarus and Kazakhstan is not the future Russia needs. Russia needs to reach an agreement with the West, modernize, join the WTO, develop its own education and healthcare systems, stimulate people and stop corruption.
Boris Mezhuyev, Deputy Director General of the Fund for Civil Initiatives Strategia-2020, has confidence that the Eurasian Union will not resemble the European Union, despite uniting Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
The principles of the new structure will differ from those of the EU, because Russia and Kazakhstan will not reach a formula of split sovereignty. The lack of sovereignty in the EU is an attempt to pass responsibility for one's own economic problems. The EU will gradually turn into an economic unity, based on understanding of the principles of property, human rights and tolerance.
Formation of the Eurasian Union would augment nationalism in cities. Russia and its Eurasian partners need an active economic policy.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wrote about the formation of a Eurasian Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in the Izvestia newspaper in early October. The Customs Union and the Common Economic Space are to form the Eurasian Union, without forming a new USSR or replacing the CIS. It will connect Europe and the Asian-Pacific region with coordination of economic and monetary policy.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko also expressed their ideas on the topic in the Izvestia newspaper.
